MARBLE FALLS, Texas – Lashing storms dumped up to 18 inches of rain on parts of central Texas, flooding several towns and stranding dozens of people on rooftops, cars and in trees.

No fatalities were reported in the latest in a series of storms blamed for at least 11 deaths in the past week and a half. The downpour and winds were so treacherous Wednesday that helicopters were forced to abruptly halt efforts to rescue people from rooftops.

The rain was heaviest in the Marble Falls area, about 40 miles northwest of Austin in the Texas Hill Country, where Mayor Raymond Whitman said there were 32 high-water rescues.

Much of the water had receded by Wednesday afternoon, but as much as 10 inches of rain was forecast to fall in the region overnight.

Residents in two subdivisions near Buchanan Dam, northwest of Marble Falls, were asked to leave their homes. About seven families were being taken out by helicopter because the roads were not passable.

“The ground is fully saturated. … It could be severe,” Whitman said. “If people do not pay attention and move to high ground, it is very possible that there will be fatalities.”

Parts of Oklahoma also were soaked, with rain falling on Oklahoma City for the 15th consecutive day, breaking a 70-year-old record. Flooding closed some roads in central and northeastern Oklahoma.

“Any time it rains there’s going to be the threat of heavy downpours; it’s not out of the question for any one area to get 3 inches,” weather service meteorologist Ty Judd said Wednesday in Norman, Okla.

In Texas, Whitman said that three bridges were washed out in the Marble Falls area and that the city water plant was damaged, leaving about two-thirds of the city without water. A temporary pump was being installed and city officials hoped water would be restored by Wednesday night.

“This is the worst I’ve ever seen it in my lifetime,” said Whitman, 47, who has lived in the town his entire life.

Whitman Branch, a creek typically just 2 to 3 feet wide in Marble Falls, stretched at least 100 feet across Wednesday. At least four Frito Lay trucks had washed away, spilling chips along the creek. One large truck emblazoned with the Doritos logo was stuck on its side in the still-running water.

Paul Irvin found his sheet metal shop near the creek under 6 feet of water.

“It was a sick feeling to see everything you’ve worked so hard for washing down,” Irvin said.

The weather was so stormy during the early morning that helicopter crews had to abandon several rescue attempts, Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services spokesman Warren Hassinger. Four rescue attempts were halted before dawn, he said, and he didn’t know what happened to the people needing help.

One aborted rescue mission had attempted to get four people from the roof of a house in Granite Shoals, where water was about 4 feet from the top of the building. They had pulled a possible drowning victim from the water, Hassinger said.

One successful helicopter-assisted rescue plucked a Williamson County sheriff’s deputy and another person from atop the lawman’s car along the San Gabriel River near Georgetown, Hassinger said.

Some looting had been reported in flood-damaged areas, Whitman said, but he declined to elaborate. Extra police officers will be on duty throughout the night and a curfew could be instituted if necessary, he said.

The Texas National Guard sent about 150 troops and 50 vehicles to help in central Texas and other areas from the Oklahoma state line to the Rio Grande Valley. The storm runoff also caused flooding downstream and flood gates were opened at several dams, the Lower Colorado River Authority said.

Storms also hit West Texas, where eight people were injured late Tuesday when winds of nearly 100 mph blasted through. At least four of the injured were in a mobile home that overturned. The winds also brought down a 320-foot radio tower onto a church and a bus, but no one was in the area.

And in North Texas, heavy rain flooded some streams and rivers and forced the evacuation of at least 50 homes in a subdivision near Lake Granbury, about 60 miles southwest of Dallas. There, about 30 homes were destroyed, said Hood County Sheriff Gene Mayo. About 25 people were rescued from the water, trees and rooftops, he said.

In Parker County, west of Fort Worth, a county judge ordered mandatory evacuation of residential areas along the Brazos River after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened the gates at the Possum Kingdom dam.

Ray Thomas and his wife fled their house on a peninsula between the North and South San Gabriel rivers at about 4:45 a.m., after hearing an emergency weather radio bulletin.

“We’re lucky we got out,” he said. “In September we were praying for rain. What worries me now is the rain that’s still to come.”

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